AI Summit Protest: Delhi Court Remands Three Youth Congress Activists Arrested From Himachal Pradesh To 3 Days Of Police Custody

A Delhi Court on Thursday remanded three Youth Congress activists to three days of police custody after they were arrested from Himachal Pradesh early in the morning today in connection with the “shirtless protest” at the AI Summit. Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta of Patiala House Courts remanded Saurav, Arbaaz and Siddharth to police custody after Delhi Police sought five days of custody for them. APP Atul Srivastava said that two of the accused were from Uttar Pradesh and one was from Madhya Pradesh and were all hiding in Himachal Pradesh. He said that Siddharth designed the things written in the Tshirt and got it painted; Saurav created WhatsApp groups whereas Arbaz had gone inside the venue during the protest. The counsel appearing for the accused requested the Court to view the matter holistically, and to see if the accused fall in the restrictions to the fundamental right to free speech and expression. He said that none of the accused are seen in the videos that have gone viral on social media and there has been no recovery from them. “The way this is being done, this is witch-hunting. 11 people are already arrested. Several are detained. What crime have they committed? Yes they were protesting. They took off their Tshirt. No recovery from them. In the fresh arrest, there is no compliance of Section 35(3) and if you would see the FIR, it mentions the same sentence as mentioned in the JNU case. If they can't find anything else, they just put “tukde tukde” and booked them…. Is this the kind of mockery? What kind of precedent we are going to set? what is happening is all the provisions are ignored here…. It's a political targeting of a youth wing leaders of the opposition party,” the defence counsel said.The development ensued after a standoff was witnessed between the Delhi Police and Himachal Pradesh Police teams yesterday over the arrest.The Delhi Police team was “detained” by the Himachal Pradesh police for about five hours even after procuring the transit remand from the ACJM, as per a PTI report. Reportedly, the Himachal Pradesh Police registered a kidnapping case against the Delhi Police personnel and "detained" their vehicles at the Shogi border near Shimla. This occurred while they were en route to the national capital with the three Youth Congress members in custody.According to the Delhi Police, a total of 11 people have been arrested so far in the matter. On February 24, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) President Uday Bhanu Chib was remanded to four days of police custody. Former national spokesperson Bhudev Sharma has also been remanded to police custody in the case. The AI Impact Summit 2026 began on February 16. Various persons were arrested after the accused wore T-shirts bearing images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal.

AI Summit Protest: Delhi Court Remands Three Youth Congress Activists Arrested From Himachal Pradesh To 3 Days Of Police Custody

Nupur Thapliyal

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